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Bacon mouthwash? April Fools' marketing jokes go viral

April Fools' Day was canceled this year by the Presidential Commission on National Holidays. If you believed this nonsense — even for a fraction of a moment — that's the main reason why so many marketers

April Fools' Day was canceled this year by the Presidential Commission on National Holidays.

If you believed this nonsense — even for a fraction of a moment — that's the main reason so many marketers embraced April Fools' Day pranks in 2013. With social media driving inexpensive but often-viral messaging, major marketers from Procter & Gamble to Virgin Atlantic to Ikea posted, tweeted or even printed pranks that raised eyebrows and elicited reams of freebie PR targeted at a generation of social-media junkies.

"We've become a nation of holidays," says Allison Cohen, president of PeopleTalk, an advertising research consultancy. "April Fools' is the flavor-of-the-month holiday where, if you can give someone a laugh, you can create goodwill for your brand."

Among the most outlandish:

• Glass-bottom airplanes. The folks at Virgin Atlantic Airways can never pass up an April Fools' Day without ribbing their own customers. This year's posting on the blog of founder Richard Branson features a glass-bottom airplane supposedly created "to ensure passengers can enjoy an unparalleled flying experience."

The prank is actually an attempt to stir interest in the airline's new service of flights within the U.K, says spokeswoman Sarah Coggins. "The spoof is in character with our brand and with Richard Branson."

"The country's obsession with all things bacon led us to poke a little fun at ourselves," says Rishi Dhingra, marketing director for P&G. The spoof even prompted sliced-meat giant Oscar Mayer to tweet out: "Thanks for figuring this one out. We were having trouble."

• Self-assembly lawnmower. The real joke here is the supposed seller of this boxed, Grässax lawnmower ready for self-assembly is Ikea. The new lawnmower, says the Facebook post, "offers green-fingered gardeners a compact, lightweight and foldable alternative."

• Vertical bathtub. Looking to go viral, Bathstore, a specialty retailer in the U.K, posted an ad for the world's first vertical bathtub. "We all like a good soak," the ad says. "But with modern living spaces getting smaller, we wanted to find a way to ensure that you could fit a bath in even the tiniest bathroom."

• Treasure maps. Google Maps posted a video promoting a "treasure mode" that folks can click on to follow Captain Kidd's original treasure map. The video explains how to find treasure map clues, including one map that can only be viewed while parachuting out of an airplane.

• Lunch meat DVDs. This Red Box post suggests selling much more than DVDs out of the familiar boxes: "Need a snack for your movie night?" it asks. "We're proud to offer a variety of DVD-shaped cold cuts including bologna, turkey and liverwurst."

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Google provides treasure map overlay while YouTube announces it will shut down on April 1 to pick a best video winner. Twitter told users they will be getting rid of vowels unless they pay a fee.
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